


Belle's Valentine

by enanjers



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-13 01:53:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3363395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enanjers/pseuds/enanjers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle finally gets the Valentine she always wanted. One-shot fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belle's Valentine

I’d had the same routine for the past year. Get up, get dressed, go to Granny’s for some breakfast before I would start my day. Luckily for me, in Storybrooke, Maine it seemed like everyone had a schedule. I would get to the Diner around 8:00am. Ruby would be stumbling down the stairs, looking like she just woke up at a bar, with her Grandmother following behind her yelling about responsibility while, more likely than not, a man was stumbling sheepishly behind her. Ruby may be more promiscuous than her Grandmother would like, but she made the best latte in Maine, and was the best friend a girl could ask for.

In the corner was the group I liked to call the “Queens of Darkness.” They were old hags that liked to sit in the Diner and gossip about everyone. If there wasn’t anyone to gossip about they would make things up. Nasty things. Life-ruining things. The worst of them, in my opinion, was Milah. A self-centered, self-obsessed woman who had absolutely nothing going for her. At least Regina, the self appointed leader of the group, had a sarcastic sense of humor and a killer fashion sense. Milah was just a hanger-on. The worst sort of groupie. The whole of her life was making her ex-husband miserable.

Said ex-husband, a man by the name of Gold, usually came to the diner at 8:30am sharp. He was always impeccably dressed, with a stern look. His graying hair came to around his chin yet it never looked hipster or out of place. Almost as if his hair, like the rest of the world, was afraid of him. Not much was known about Mr. Gold. His wife had stories, but I, personally, questioned some of their validity. She claimed he was so rich it was as if he could spin straw into gold. That was about the only nice thing she ever said about him. Usually it was how terrible of a husband, lover and father he was. Of course, that could never be verified as the child in question was sent off to boarding school by his mother, and no one knew Gold well enough to contradict her. 

The clock beeped signaling 8:30, and the man of my musings sauntered in, limping slightly due to an old accident, “Ms. French” he said, nodding toward me. He always said my name when he came in. No one else’s. I never could figure out why. 

“Belle!” Ruby pulled me quickly out of my daydreams. 

“Ruby!” I responded not knowing what else to say. She pulled a face at me but recovered quickly.

“You would not BELIEVE who I saw at the Rabbit Hole last night!”

“Elvis Presley” I stated knowing, if she told me that, I would actually not believe her. 

“No!! Gaston March!” 

“Ugh” I grunted. “Well I definitely believe that you saw him seen as he is recently back from whatever football training camp he went to this time, so that was a bad game, try something else.”

Gaston March was an ex-boyfriend of mine. For some reason Ruby found him to be dreamy. I found him to be dreamy, until he started talking. Then I realized that some people appear to be more closely related to monkeys than others. I started bringing bananas to our dates just to test my theory. Ruby did not approve of my antics, Gaston didn’t notice them, and I was highly amused. Unfortunately, Gaston took these dates to mean we were in some epic love affair. He was the Mr. Collins to my Elizabeth Bennett. Every rejection of mine made him want me more. It was amusing…until it was annoying. 

Ruby kept on chattering, presumably updating me on Gaston’s latest football fiasco, so I distracted myself by looking at Mr. Gold. He only had a few minutes left. By 8:50am he would always finish his coffee (black) get up and go to his store to open it by 9:00am. He owned the local pawnshop, but the shop was just a cover. He made most of his money by owning most of the real estate in Maine. How he acquired that real estate was always a mystery, but Milah consistently started new rumors about it. Usually the rumors involved drug rings and ponzi schemes, and each one was less likely than the last. I never understood why Mr. Gold made a coffee stop at Granny’s every morning. His ex-wife would always be talking loudly about his lack of…bedroom skills in the corner. Yet there he would sit, looking coolly on. Daring anyone to make a comment. 

Sure enough at 8:50am, he got up, left money on the table and with a brief nod, which I pretended was aimed at me, he sauntered off.

“and then Eli MANNING stopped by and told Gaston he had, and as this is apparently a direct quote a “good arm!”” Catching the end of the story I looked at Ruby, and tried to convey my just general distaste in a look. Mr. Gold could stop almost any person in the world from talking with just a look. I, apparently, had not mastered that skill. Ruby just harrumphed at me and launched into a speech on how I was too pretty to be a spinster, and unless I found a way to bring Mr. Rochester out from my “crazy storybooks” I was going to end up alone. Figuring I had enough of my spinster pep talk for the day I bid Ruby adieu using great-romanticized gestures as if I truly were stepping out of a Jane Austen novel, and sauntered away to the library. Until I tripped, then I just embarrassingly walked out of the diner with Ruby’s obnoxious laughter following behind me. 

By 5:00pm every night I closed up shop and headed home. I was just locking the door when I heard a slight cough behind me. Startled I whipped around expecting to see some giant attacker. Instead all I saw was the small frame of Mr. Gold.

“Ms. French. My apologies, I didn’t mean to startle you.” 

“No problem” I replied, trying to act nonchalant. “My fault for deciding reading Stephen King novels while alone in the library was a good idea. What can I help you with?”  
Mr. Gold smiled softly at my poor attempt at humor and it was all I could do to stop from gaping. I never even knew the man COULD smile.

“Well, I was actually going to talk to you about the library expansion project.”

“Expansion project?” I repeated like some deranged parrot.

“Expansion project” he confirmed. “I thought the town could use a little more culture and leaning, so I petitioned the town committee to vote on extra funding and I am confident they will all…see my point of view.” 

“Expansion project?” I repeated again…apparently my brain hadn’t yet made the initial leap to understand what was being said. An expansion project would be my every dream come true. Besides Brad Pitt finally accepting he was in love with me, but that was another matter altogether. 

“Yes, Ms. French. Will I have to repeat everything again or do you have a few more “Expansion projects” left in you before your brain starts working normally?” At this he lifted an eyebrow at me, which didn’t help my muddled brain as I was trying to determine if the stoic Mr. Gold had actually just told a joke. 

“No, Mr. Gold, I think I am good. Are you serious about petitioning the committee!”

“Yes, as I said I think it is important, and I am willing to step up to the plate to make it happen, as long as the librarian is on board.” At this he gave me a small smile. Two smiles!! I felt like I was seeing a whole new side of the man Ruby once termed “grumpy cat.”

“Of course!” I said and had to stop myself from hugging him. It almost appeared like he was going to say more when a shrill voice cut us off. 

“Well I didn’t know monsters were allowed out in the daylight!” Milah walked up to us almost quivering in excitement. Mr. Gold gave a defeated sigh. “Milah” he said, and looked at me with his cool demeanor, making me almost question if the last few minutes where he had smiled twice was all some elaborate fantasy in my head. Mr. Gold nodded his head and walked off barely sparing his ex wife a look. However, she wouldn’t have noticed because she was staring at me with what could only be called an evil grin. 

“Milah” I repeated, hoping to convey the same distain Gold had, and stomped away trying very hard not to notice the eyes that were still on me from behind. 

After the conversation outside the library, I made it my mission to talk to Gold more. Of course, the first time was highly intimidating, and I actually got up and attempted to walk over to him during his morning coffee three times before I actually mustered up the grit to actually do it. “Mr. Gold” I said standing over him awkwardly. He, however didn’t seem to notice. “Ms. French” he replied and I convinced myself that the slight turn to his lips was a smile. ‘I, um, just wanted to say hello. Thank you, again, for talking to the committee about the library. Mayor Mills actually mentioned it to me! Of course, I think she was surprised we even have a library even though Henry Mills is one of my regulars…” I slowly tapered off realizing I was babbling.

“Well Ms. French culturing our esteemed Mayor is one of my great ambitions in life” he stated and winked. WINKED. Mr. Gold actually winked. I, once again, showcased my stellar goldfish impression and just stared at him. 

“Ms. French have you never seen a wink before? Are you familiar with the concept?” Mr. Gold had apparently caught onto my goldfish impression. I immediately reddened. “Ah yes, the wink, it is coming back to me. Although in my recollection a wink was associated with humor, which is something fearful pawnbrokers are supposed to be without,” I replied.  
“Ah they left that part out of the handbook” he repeatedly dryly. “Well Ms. French it appears to be time for me to go back to Pawnbrokers 101. I do hope next time we meet that I will more adequately fit your idea of a pawnbroker.” With that parting comment he swept out the doors of the diner like some magical sorcerer leaving the halls of the Kings of Old.   
It wasn’t until much later, as I was opening the library, that I realized I could not wipe the silly grin off of my face. 

Later that day it was with great surprise that I ran into Milah. It was even more surprising as I ran into her while working at the library. Milah was never one with books. 

“Wow this is an impressive collection of books,” she stated. 

“Well it's a library, that's kind of its job,” I said, wondering how Mr. Gold could have ended up with someone like her.

Milah just smiled. “You know. You are very pretty” 

“Thanks?” I intoned, Milah was not known for her compliments. 

“You date men like…Gaston March, right? Big, athletic types, right?” 

“Well I dated A man like Gaston March, that being the man himself. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing”

“Hey, do you mind if I borrow some paper with the library letterhead on it? I am trying to make a scrapbook for the town.”

“Sure” I replied willing to give her a lot more than just paper to get her to leave without incident. 

“Excellent” she said with a giant grin on her face. 

The next few days were beyond hectic. In order for the Library Expansion project to work out Mayor Mills apparently needed every record the Library ever had, and needed it presented to her in every format available. This kept me insanely busy. So busy that I even had to skip Granny’s breakfast for most of the week. A fact that Ruby made up for by bringing my coffee and daily gossip directly to the library so that I could multi task. I was good about that.

“So Milah has been, like, freaskishly happy” Ruby stated. “I have no idea why and it is kind of freaking me out. The Queens of Darkness only get happy when other people are sad. This means someone out there is kicking a kitten and Milah is getting joy from it.”

I couldn’t really argue with Ruby’s sound logic so I just kept drinking my latte and trying to figure out how to make my book rentals look more impressive in a bar graph. 

“Also, Gold has been hanging around for longer. It’s weird he used to always leaves exactly at 8:50am, but now it seems as though he is waiting for something.” This caught my attention. First Mr. Gold smiled, now he is deviating his schedule. I briefly considered that he had a personality transplant, but then quickly dismissed the notion.

“That is strange, maybe something is going on with them.” Hmmm Ruby stated, then went back to regaling me with tales of the bar from the night before. 

The week before Valentine’s Day came, and I finally caved. “So you want to meet up at the Diner around 8:00?” Gaston queried looking smug and amazingly even more like a monkey than he usually did. “Yes” I replied morosely. I hated myself when I did things like this. I always told myself it was ok to be alone for days like Valentine’s day, but when Ruby chattered on about the different men who asked her out I got self conscious of my lack of date, and caved when Gaston asked me out. 

“Excellent” he stated, and proceeded to try to make out with me in the middle of the library. Not wanting to sully my books I made some excuse about having to get back to work, and finally got him to leave. 

The actual day of Valentines was raining. Figures, I thought. The weather was showcasing my own depressed mood. “Oh cheer up,” Ruby stated as she flitted around the room trying on different clothes. She had finally landed the esteemed Dr. Whale as her date, and she was determined that there was nothing in her closet worthy of such a man. I just let her talk as she got ready knowing nothing I said would penetrate when she was so excited. 

By 7:45pm we were all dolled up and waiting downstairs for our heroes to arrive. Even if I was fervently wishing my hero came down with the stomach flu (Ruby called me out when I tried to pretend I had come down with the stomach flu.) All of a sudden the Queens of Darkness walked in with big smiles on their faces. This was strange for a number of reasons. One of which was they rarely smiled. It was also strange that not one of them had a date. However, they just sat down and stared at me, which was oddly disconcerting.

“Is it just me or are they staring at you and smirking?” Ruby questioned. Not knowing how to answer, I just shrugged at her, assuming it would all come clear. Unfortunately, it did.  
At 8:00pm on the dot the door to the diner chimed, and I heaved a sigh, assuming Dr. Whale and Gaston had arrived. It took me a minute to realize that the diner had gone silent. When I looked up Mr. Gold stood there looking, if possible, even more dapper than usual. Usually his good looks seemed to just stem from a natural swagger, but tonight it looked like he put actual time into his appearance, arranging himself to be the best he could be. In his hand was a beautiful red rose, and what appeared to be a note on the library letterhead. Even more surprising was the look on his face. He looked, hopeful, nervous but excited. Like a child on Christmas morning, waiting to see if Santa actually did come. 

I just looked on in confusion and was surprised when he kept looking at me. I tried to smile, waiting for an explanation. That’s when I heard it. The Queens of Darkness, cackling like the hyenas they were. It took me a moment to realize what was going on. All of a sudden Mr. Gold’s face transformed into a mask of horror, as he looked at his ex-wife and then at the note in his hand. I immediately knew what they had done. I had no idea why Milah would do something like this, what she would get out of it, but she obviously used the letterhead to trick Mr. Gold into believing I had asked him to meet me on Valentine’s day. What was the biggest surprise to me was that he came, and the way he looked when he came in…if that was actually for ME. I tried to say something but Gaston, with the worst timing ever, took that moment to stroll in.

“Hey baby” he said and proceeded to swoop in for a kiss I was too frazzled to maneuver away from. Eventually, however, even Gaston realized something was wrong.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Mr. Gold was staring at him as if rooted to the spot, the look of horror never leaving his face.

Milah chose this time to enlighten Gaston. “Oh, well it appears there was a “mix up”” she stated with obvious glee. “Mr. Gold here, the man who has never been loved by anybody, who resembles rumplestilkskin more than prince charming, who couldn’t with all the money in the world keep either a wife or a son, that pathetic disgrace of a little man got confused” here Milah smiled, and Belle almost expected worms to crawl out of her teeth the smile was so evil and bitter “THAT man thought your beautiful date had actually asked him to be her valentine.” At this all of the Queens of Darkness started, once again, cackling. Mr. Gold looked like he was trying to slip on his mask of cool demeanor but when he met my eyes the pure misery and loneliness in them took my breath away. 

Gaston, assuming that the laughter of the Queens was actually his own personal victory decided to pander to the crowd by giving me the world’s worst (in my opinion) kiss. At this the crowd cheered. When I finally managed to struggle free, Milah had found something else.

“And what is this?!” She asked pulling from Gold a small little teacup with blue engraving on the side. I gasped. During one of my awkward morning rambles I had told Mr. Gold about a tea set I had when I was a child. It was the only thing I truly remembered my Mom touching, and I was devastated when my Dad had to sell it for funds. While it wasn’t the most normal of morning conversations, Mr. Gold has listened intently to every word, and had apparently been able to find the tea set. “Well well well” Milah intoned. “Trying to woo the lady with…a cup? Believe me Rumple when I tell you, you never wooed me, and you will never woo her.”

At this point I had had enough. I had no idea why Milah had such a vendetta but I was done with this. Just as Milah lifted up the cup to smash it on the floor I darted away from Gaston and ran to rescue the cup. “Stop!” I shouted, as if we were in some dramatic romance novel scene rather than just at Granny’s diner. Unfortunately, that dramatic romance flare left me as soon as I screamed “stop!” I grabbed the cup, then didn’t know what else to say. So I simple looked at Milah and, quite clearly stated: “this is MY cup.” Milah just looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I was. However, I looked at Ruby and she was actually smiling. Then I looked at him. I didn’t know what to say. He was looking at me with such cautious hope. His hand outstretched in his attempt to save the teacup. So I did what any normal, sane person would do. I took the two steps it took to get right beside him. Then I looked up at him. Bless the man he was barely breathing. Just staring. Almost as if he were in a dream and if he moved too quickly it would shatter. So I smiled up at him, took his hand, gave a nod toward Milah and steered my Valentine out onto the street. Oddly enough, the rain had cleared up, and all that was left was a beautiful sunset. I decided to walk towards that.


End file.
